Global Justice

This chapter turns to a normative premise in the social cohesion argument for restrictive immigration policies, according to which states should bring about (substantive) equality. This premise assumes a particular version of egalitarianism, according to which equality has domestic scope only (the focus is, after all, only on the impact of immigration in the receiving society). However, it is argued that equality has global scope. It is also argued that immigration, and in particular South–North migration, has a positive impact on global equality, due to the fact that migrants can achieve a higher standard of living and tend to send back remittances to their families in their country of origin. A number of objections to this argument are also considered, and it is argued that while immigration policy is not the most important policy for improving global equality, more open borders nevertheless have a role to play.

Normative Political Theory and Global Migration Governance

Based on the main contributions of normative political theory on global justice and migration ethics, this article assesses the global Compacts on refugees and migration, approved by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018. The set of conclusions indicates that the Compacts constitute an important advance in global moral and political projects and commitments. However, the application of their predicted terms can bring about problems, distortions, and impasses in the sharing of responsibilities.

Through Exchange: Karatani Compared With Marx

The following paper has as its object the political philosophy of K. Karatani, in particular its relationship with the work of Marx. Japanese philosopher, in fact, reinterprets some elements of Marxian theory in the light of Kantian categories, hybridizing the ethical and moral theory of the latter with the critique of the political economy of the former. The result of Karatani's project can be seen, in particular, in two works. With the first, Transcritique, Karatani moves into the realm of philosophy to construct a method that holds the two theoretical poles together. The concept of 'Transcritique', in fact, represents the junction between Kantian and Marxian insights. With the second work, 'The Structure of World History', the Japanese philosopher shifts the analytical focus from ethics to economics, proposing a different interpretation of capitalism and its historical cycles. The shift of the observation of the capitalist system from the sphere of production to that of exchange represents the analytical novelty. Carrying through to the end the methodology developed in the previous work, Karatani traces back to exchange all the productive, institutional and political dynamics produced over time. Cycles of accumulation thus become cycles of exchange. The author, in fact, determines a correspondence between the specific modes of exchange and the consequent political structures, highlighting the centrality that money occupies, both in the theoretical elaboration and in political reality. The prevailing mode of production, based on the exchange of commodities, relies on the absolute mobility of money and on the strength of the state political institution, which acts as a hinge between the global dimension of exchanges and the territorial need for the appropriation of surplus-value. Karatani's critique is embodied in a political proposal, articulated through two key figures: community and cosmopolitanism. With the first term, the philosopher opposes the materiality of human relationships based on reciprocity to the abstract equivalence of economic relationships. By the second term, he shows the need for an extended political practice in which the pursuit of local freedom goes hand in hand with the realization of global justice. The paper traces these themes both through direct exposure of Karatani's work and by offering critical comparisons with other authors who have addressed similar issues. Finally, the purpose of this paper is to emphasize the originality of the Japanese author's philosophical-historical work, suspended between utopia and pragmatism, also through criticism, in order to highlight its strengths and underline its potential weaknesses.

Wirtschaftswandel als Kulturwandel? Die Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie als möglicher Wegbereiter für eine Kultur wechselseitiger Verbundenheit

The article analyzes the development of new post-capitalist practices with their possible effects on the transformation of self-images and self-conceptions using the example of the economy for the common good. To this end, the connection between the current subject order, the present social crises and the complex entanglement of the prevailing mode of production and life is explained. A socio-ecological transformation would therefore also have to be linked to the emergence of an alternative subject culture which is oriented towards cooperation and community. The Association of Common Good Economy (Verein der Gemeinwohl-Oekonomie) and common good-oriented companies are used in this research as a space to observe social-cultural practices and new forms and conventions of cooperation in their acceptance and dissemination. On the one hand, it shows that these companies, with their values based on cooperation, social and global justice and ecological responsibility, and with their participatory organizational structures, offer opportunities for countercultural practices and make utopias tangible, so that social change and self-change are being made possible on a small scale. On the other hand, by means of detailed examples the inconsistencies of social-cultural practices and the hybrid mixture of subject forms become clear and comprehensible in their specific context.